2014/12/30

My Wife came from Finland and apart from Vodka and Beer they loved their Christmas on Christmas Eve.

Here two generations celebrate their own way :D

Tess is getting a little worried because the shadows are getting longer, and Santa has not yet arrived.

Some of the older kids are not so worried, each trying to outdo the adults with death defying feats of high jumping.

And even more waiting!

Finally lights and sirens are heard as a late Santa arrives in the Yackandandah Fire Stations Big Pumper! All the kids scampered up into the cab to check out the pre... eh the truck.

Finally everybody retired to the lawn where the next several hours were much enjoyed by the kids opening presents with the Adults looking on. We much enjoy this little bit of family tradition, and the vodka must have caught up, because I never got a picture :(

Well Christmas Dinner was next on the agenda.

Here Billy sits beside Riitta. Well its her Christmas tea shirt and it is placed over the chair she always sat on, when she was still with us. Sort of hope she still comes along all these years since breast cancer took her away from us.

On the Model Train front?

Now that all the gremlins have been found and sorted, trains can circulate the layout, even if SG freights do have to run through Trentham eeek!! Bit rough!!
So a lot of train running and little work, other than fixing up problems as they are found.

One set of points not switching the frog here, so I will need to put another mono frog juicer in.

A week before Christmas, Graeme Schulz arrived with his spatulas and we decided to play around with some scenery.
This is an artist paper mache plaster mix we were put on to. Its mixed into a ice cream container with water and plastic paint to colour like dirt.And Cement colours sprinkled on top.to simulate dirt. Woodland Scenic's greens for effect. Hard shell hard to chip, yet still easy enough to cut out and fix problems, should they occur.

After Graeme left I decided how I was going to fix the causeway bridge and splice in the new section I got on E-Bay. I did most of the work gluing in new bridge girders under the rails.

The new bridge over the creek has a trestle support next to the far abutment, which has to be removed and put at the other (far) end.
Then it will look like the trestle was built at two different times. Perhaps fixing a wash a way?

Beginnings (Blog starts here)

About my Railway

The Australian National Railways was established by the Whitlam Federal Government following a commitment made in the 1972 election to invite the states to hand over their railway systems to the federal government. In July 1975 Australian National Railways was formed taking over the operations of the federal government owned Commonwealth Railways.

The state governments of South Australia and Tasmania whose railway systems were deeply in debt, accepted. During the next two years discussions between these two states and the federal government resulted in a number of staffing and operating agreements being made that resulted in all South Australian Railways services (except for the Adelaide metropolitan passenger network) and all Tasmanian Government Railways services transferring to Australian National Railway in March 1978, the latter being re-branded AN Tasrail.

At first Victoria declined to hand over its Railways, however a change of Government after Bolte retired meant Victoria could be absorbed into AN as well. Despite doing everything they could to tarnish ALP leader Clyde Holding, The ALP were able to defeat Hamer who was seen to be just another Bolte, doing more of the same into the future.

Clyde Holding handed over Victorian Railways to the Commonwealth where it prospered as a division of AN retaining its VR colours until later when AN decided to re-brand it as V/Line.

My Railway thus reflects what could have been ;)And of course National Rail (Pacific National) has no place in my little scenario. Australian National was never privatised and has continually taken East Coast loads off the Highways. As well many branch lines were upgraded and Whitlam's policy of decentralisation actually moved employment to towns with a ready pool of workers, which of course took the pressure of Melbourne which was starting to expand as bush kids moved away from the Country in search of education and employment ( just as Gough Whitlam envisaged it would do)Rod Young

N452 (Background photo)

At Wodonga after being towed into loco following my Kelly Street Accident. A semi load of dog food ran the level crossing derailing the 1220 Down Pass

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All photos are copyrighted to their respective owners.All can be clicked on to see bigger images :)